# 1939 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1939 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
** J.J. (outgoing)
** Crwys (incoming)

## Events

* March–November - Aneurin Bevan is temporarily expelled from the Labour Party.
* 27 April - Ely Racecourse in Cardiff closes.
* 1 June - The submarine HMS Thetis sinks during trials in Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey. At least 98 men are lost.
* Late August - Most paintings evacuated from the National Gallery in London, many going to Penrhyn Castle at Bangor and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth; the latter also houses manuscripts, prints and books from the British Museum.
* 3 September - World War II: Declaration of war by the United Kingdom on Nazi Germany following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September.
* September - The Urdd opens Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd, the first-ever Welsh-medium primary school, at Aberystwyth. In its first year the school consists of just seven pupils and one teacher, Norah Isaac.
* October - Construction at M. S. Factory, Valley in Flintshire of tunnels for storage of chemical weapons begins.
* The first war-time civilian evacuees arrive in Wales.
* Vickers-Armstrong opens an aircraft factory at Broughton, Flintshire, later taken over by De Havilland.
* A government report shows that seven of the thirteen Welsh counties have the highest incidence of tuberculosis in the whole of England and Wales.
* George Maitland Lloyd Davies becomes President of the pacifist group Heddychwyr Cymru.
* Talybont Reservoir in the Brecon Beacons is completed to supply Newport.
* Sea Roads is constructed in Penarth in the Modernist style.

## Arts and literature

* August - For the first time ever, both chair and crown are withheld at the National Eisteddfod.
* 4 October - Poets Lynette Roberts and Keidrych Rhys marry.
* John Roberts Williams becomes editor of Y Cymro.

### Awards

* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Denbigh)
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - withheld
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - John Gwilym Jones

### New books
#### English language

* B. L. Coombes - These Poor Hands
* Richard Llewellyn - How Green Was My Valley
* Howard Spring - Heaven Lies About Us

#### Welsh language

* D. Gwenallt Jones - Ysgubau'r Awen
* David James Jones - Hanes Athroniaeth: Y Cyfnod Groegaidd
* Moelona - Ffynnonlloyw
* Caradog Prichard - Terfysgoedd Daear

### Music

* William Ifor Jones makes his debut as conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
* Ivor Novello - The Dancing Years
* Grace Williams - Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon

## Film

* Ray Milland stars in Hotel Imperial and Beau Geste.
* Sheep Dog, featuring the shepherd Tom Jones of Treorchy

### Welsh language film

* Efaciwis a Ricriwtio (World War II propaganda film)

## Broadcasting

* At the outbreak of war, the BBC was to transmit a unified service, including programs in the Welsh language. One of the few Welsh-language broadcasts to survive is a daily bulletin of world news at 5 pm. It was broadcast before the daily news in English at 6pm.
* The BBC radio comedy series It's That Man Again begins its ten-year run. From 1940 to 1943 it will be broadcast from the BBC Wales studios in Bangor, Caernarvonshire, north Wales, where the BBC's Light Entertainment Department is temporarily based.

## Sports

* Rugby union
** 4 February – Leslie Manfield (one of only four players to represent Wales both before and after World War II) gains his first senior cap in the match between Wales and Scotland.

## Births

* 11 January - Phil Williams, politician (died 2003)
* 16 February - David Griffiths, portrait painter
* 8 March - Robert Tear, operatic tenor (died 2011)
* 16 March - Kenny Morgans, footballer (died 2012)
* 29 March - Ronnie Williams, actor and comedian (died 1997)
* 7 April - Keith Bradshaw, Wales international rugby player (died 2014)
* 27 May - Cliff Williams, rugby union player (died 2014)
* 8 June - Norman Davies, historian
* 17 June - Donald Anderson, Baron Anderson of Swansea, politician
* 17 July - Spencer Davis, born Spencer Davies, beat musician, multi-instrumentalist (died 2020 in the United States)
* 21 July - Frank Rankmore, footballer
* 24 September - Steve Gammon, footballer
* 29 September
** Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales (died 2017)
** Lynne Thomas, cricketer
* 10 October - Neil Sloane, mathematician
* 8 November - Meg Wynn Owen, actress (died 2022)

## Deaths

* 27 January - Lewis Jones, miners' leader and novelist, 41
* 17 March - Owen Badger, Wales international rugby player, 67
* 24 March - Gwyn Nicholls, rugby player, 64
* 23 April - Morgan Jones, sitting MP for Llanelli, 52
* 29 April - Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff, 64
* 14 June - Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, politician, 66
* 29 June - Sir Henry Stuart Jones, academic, 72
* 9 July - Charles Nicholl, Wales international rugby union player, 69
* 18 September - Gwen John, artist, 63
* 21 September - Sir John Lynn-Thomas, surgeon, 78
* 26 September - Leif Jones, politician, 77
* 7 November - Gwenllian Morgan, local politician, 87
* 2 December - Llewelyn Powys, writer, 55